This is the full history of Yumestate. It is quite the read, but shows that with continued improvement, a small junior high project can turn into a business.

The Past: The Grade 9 Project
My very first website was built in 2001. It featured content from Super Mario, and was designed to be an informational web site on learning the characteristics of the popular Nintendo video game character. After that project finished, many other small web sites developed ranging from video games, sports, math, and even band. When high school came, “web design” was a course offered to students. I immediately signed up for what would be starting point of my web design business.

The Goal

Originally known as StudioTim.ca, the intent of building a website was to give readers and authors the opportunity to express themselves through e-writing, or more commonly referred to as blogging. This could range anywhere from writing reviews on popular anime and manga series, introducing tutorials on how to design a simple but great looking website, blogging on their scholarly lifestyle, or simply showcasing their latest personal artwork or photographs. StudioTim separated itself from other weblogs by establishing its foundation as a niche group of individuals. The majority of us have entered the career/post-secondary phase of life with a unique set of common interests: Otaku culture and Western-Asian lifestyles.

The Idea
StudioTim was something I had planned for a while, but it wasn’t fully conceptualized until my first year of university. Coming from a generation where we are technology-driven, it’s natural that we have a relatively intermediate understanding of technology. I found it relatively easy to understand coding, programming, and technical languages that didn’t come so easy to my parents or older family members. Because of this, my natural interest in Web Design came to light.

The beginning of “StudioTim”. Ending ux.Series.
The concept of StudioTim began when I asked my friend a question on some programming code that he helped me with in the past. I wanted to try and design my own “music player” with his help, but then we started talking about a broader sense of a website. After our conversation I finally decided to move on to building a website from ground up that could incorporate multiple users. Having a community of people who share the same interests offer a lot of benefits. Ultimately my goal is to provide them with the necessary tools, feedback, and inspiration to create something way better than a single person could on StudioTim.

Why get your own domain and web hosting space?
My very first layout was uploaded to either freewebs.com or 50free.org… All I wanted was a free web hosting server so I can start designing right away. StudioTim came to mind when I thought about all the advantages I would have if I moved to my own domain and server. The most obvious one would be the freedom to manage your work, and others would be to eliminate pop-ups and advertisements.

Present:
I am proud that I was able to create StudioTim. The community was built on respect and having fun writing on about what they found interesting. I gained a lot of knowledge on designing a website, and that knowledge translates into the work and ability to create new and exciting things for my clients today. StudioTim was officially shutdown in 2010 to kickstart the project known today as Yumestate.

Yumestate.com was remade for several reasons. First, I wanted a unique name that was different but somewhat easy to remember. One problem with our original name was that the domain name studiotim.com was already in use by a fashion design organization, therefore our search engine optimization would be difficult to pinpoint and confusing.

Secondly, the infrastructure that StudioTim was built on was terribly outdated. It did not have a content management system, which made it difficult to archive and sort data. Adding a Content Management System (CMS) meant having to overhaul the website, which would mean starting from scratch anyway.

After coding and installing WordPress it was necessary to upgrade our web services, and subsequently our domain name to Yumestate.com to give us a fresh start. It was appropriate to have a name that reflects our interests, and so for those that don’t know, Yume in Japanese Romaji means “Dream”. Putting the two words together, we essentially get Dreamstate.com.

About Yumestate

Created and developed by Timothy Siu, Yumestate is a play on words fusion Japanese and English words. The name is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "Yume" which means Dream and combined to form "dreamstate". This website started in 2001 and continues to be a work-in-progress. I believe that like many things in life, learning is a continual process that will last forever; web design is no exception.

The goal of Yumestate is to provide an outlet for showcasing creativity using technology. Whether that's through web design, photography, or programming, the aim is to record and display work and track progress

The portfolio consists of existing web sites built in the past and used by my clients located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. These web sites range anywhere from informational, to business, to e-commerce, to personal use.

Officially, Yumestate has been an online registered business since 2010, though it started with an idea and project dating back to 2001. If you would like to read Tim's full history of web design and naming of the website, please read his post located here.

To get in contact with Yumestate, please visit the "contact" link located at the top or bottom of this page. Enjoy your stay!